WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE?Magpie is a former journalist, attempted historian [No, you can't ask how her thesis is going], and full-time corvid of the lesbian persuasion. She keeps herself in birdseed by writing those bad computer manuals that you toss out without bothering to read them. She also blogs too much when she's not on deadline, both here and at Pacific Views.

Magpie roosts in Portland, Oregon, where she annoys her housemates (as well as her cats Medea, Whiskers, and Jane Doe) by attempting to play Irish music on the fiddle and concertina.

You know, the country Dubya invaded after he lost interest in his invasion of Afghanistan and before he abetted Israel's attack on Lebanon? Riverbend remembers Iraq really well because she lives there, and has to deal with the results of Dubya's attention deficit problems every day.

I've said goodbye this last month to more people than I can count. Some of the "goodbyes" were hurried and furtive  the sort you say at night to the neighbor who got a death threat and is leaving at the break of dawn, quietly.

Some of the "goodbyes" were emotional and long-drawn, to the relatives and friends who can no longer bear to live in a country coming apart at the seams.

Many of the "goodbyes" were said stoically  almost casually  with a fake smile plastered on the face and the words, "See you soon" . . . Only to walk out the door and want to collapse with the burden of parting with yet another loved one.

During times like these I remember a speech Bush made in 2003: One of the big achievements he claimed was the return of jubilant "exiled" Iraqis to their country after the fall of Saddam. I'd like to see some numbers about the Iraqis currently outside of the country you are occupying . . . Not to mention internally displaced Iraqis abandoning their homes and cities.

I sometimes wonder if we'll ever know just how many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis left the country this bleak summer. I wonder how many of them will actually return. Where will they go? What will they do with themselves? Is it time to follow? Is it time to wash our hands of the country and try to find a stable life somewhere else?